With Heavy Hearts and Heavier Boots: Holy Word WELS, Home of the District VP and Ex-Synod President, Both Church and Changers, Kick Joe and Lisa Krohn Out - In Christian Love

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Beginning the Formal Process of Termination of Fellowship and Our Response

Here is the letter we received from the Elders and Council of Holy Word Ev. Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas.  It is followed by our response that we sent today.  The dialog is long and tedious at times, but necessary.  The Holy Word letter is in the .jpg format and can easily be magnified depending on your browser and mouse settings.  Usually a left click will open the file in a different window and then continued left clicks will magnify if need be.  Our letter will format differently since we composed it in Word and will be much easier to view here.  We did notice a fragmented sentence on the last page of what we mailed to the Elders and Council and we have revised it here.

Kyrie, eleison!

2722 Lovett Lane

Cedar Park, Texas  78613

August 9, 2011

Mr. Matt Wordell

Mr. Brad Johnson

                              Holy Word Evangelical Lutheran Church

10601 Bluff Bend Drive

Austin, TX 78753

Re:  Termination of Fellowship

Dear Matt and Brad:

Thank you for your letter of July 31, 2011.  We pray that your hearts be lifted; for times like these drive us deep into His Word!

Psalm 119:10-16 “¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
   do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
   that I might not sin against you.
¹² Praise be to you, LORD;
   teach me your decrees.
¹³ With my lips I recount
   all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
   as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
   and consider your ways.
¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
   I will not neglect your word.” -NIV

We do not agree with your definition of Excommunication, but suffice it to say we are thankful that you have backed away from your position that our salvation may be in jeopardy as inferred in your communication of May 21, 2011.  Clearly stated; Excommunication is manifest impenitence for the breaking of God’s Law, not just manifest impenitence.  Otherwise you would be excommunicating us.  Neither are we denying the forgiveness of sins or the redemptive work of Jesus Christ as our response will show you.

We are deeply disappointed that the Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod, Holy Word Lutheran Church, Pastor Patterson, Pastor Gurgel, Holy Word’s Elders and Holy Word’s Council

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continue to believe (since you are speaking for all) in the peculiar doctrine as laid out in your letter; by the extremely narrow context of three (albeit truncated in the third case) passages and almost three full pages of editorial by mere men.  Clearly you did not substantiate your position by using scripture regarding the chief article of our faith.

Regarding Doctrinal Error and Holy Word’s Impetus for Termination of Fellowship:

You chose to lead with Pastor Schaller’s essay (circa 1910) on 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.  Schaller was one of the Wauwatosa Theologians and it is ironic since their mantra was ’let scripture interpret scripture’; that he would hang his hat on four verses for this doctrine.  I believe it is quite presumptuous to conclude that if one does not believe as such that they may be a Synergist.  There is always a danger in believing we have anything to do with our salvation or even the salvation of others.  (i.e.:  saving souls.)  This is the Enthusiasm that is currently plaguing many ‘christian’ denominations via the Church Growth Movement and the Emergent ‘church’.

Let’s widen the angle a bit, shall we?  Here are the passages in context with my commentary italicized and in parenthesis (It is peculiar that Schaller would use a portion of the Bible that actually was referring to the relationship of the body of believers to each other.):

2 Corinthians 5:11- 21

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, (This is spoken by a believer to believers since unbelievers have no fear of God.) we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. ¹² We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us (Who is ‘us’?  Unbelievers are not compelled by Christ’s love.  Only believers are.), because we (Believers) are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  (Those who live are the believers.  Unbelievers would not live for Christ.  Paul has set the context here and that is all these things are through faith in Christ.) ¹⁶ So from now on we (Believers) regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we (Believers) once regarded Christ in this way, we (Believers) do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is (believes) in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us (Believers) to himself through Christ and gave us (Believers) the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was (From a former time; not Calvary but the Garden of Eden; Gen. 3:15) reconciling (Not past tense but present; ongoing; from the Garden; otherwise how could Abraham et al be saved?) the world

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(God’s will is for all to be saved and has made salvation possible for all through faith in Christ as propitiator) to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (Those who believe; unbelievers die in their sins.) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We (Believers) are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us (Believers). We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  (If all are justified, therefore forgiven and reconciled, why would Paul make an exhortation to ‘be reconciled to God’?) ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin^[a] for us, so that in him (in faith) we might become the righteousness of God.” -NIV (As in putting on the righteousness of Christ which comes through faith; Rom. 3:22.)

You continue your defense with an excerpt from the 2005 Buchholz essay that has just one Bible reference, which ironically speaks against your premise.  Furthermore, Buchholz is in error when he says that the Confessions equate justification and forgiveness in a general absolution to all mankind.  When the Confessions speak of justification it is always equated with regeneration.  The regenerates are the believers.

Here is the one Bible reference in your Buchholz excerpt with my comment:

“Psalm 32:1 “ ¹ Blessed is he
   whose transgressions are forgiven,
   whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the man
   whose sin the LORD does not count against him
   and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Again, who is blessed and forgiven?  Unbelievers?         No!  Do unbelievers have no deceit towards God?  Of course not.  Only believers are lacking deceit as they are in Christ.)

Proverbs 17:15 “¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—
   the LORD detests them both.” -NIV

Unfortunately the Buchholz essay is equating the atonement for sin with the forgiveness of sins.  It is not the same thing.  Christ’s redemptive work (atonement) is Second Article doctrine of the Apostle’s Creed.  The Forgiveness of Sins is Third Article and is the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the Word and Sacraments.  This is why Pastor Patterson and the rest of you are in error when you teach a forgiveness of sins apart from hearing the Word; apart from the Holy Ghost.  If everyone is already forgiven, why bother with anything else?  By Buchholz’s own admission in his essay, he is ‘wresting terms in such a way that scriptures do not speak’.  The message of the Bible has always been that of repentance and the remissions of sins through faith in the Savior, Christ Jesus.

Your third point of defense is pulled from the WELS confession of faith re: Justification, in “This We Believe”.  Again, this (Romans 5:18 and truncated at that) is in the narrowest of contexts.  To put Romans 5 in context one must go back to chapters 3 and 4. 

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In Romans 3:19-26, God’s Word says (Commentary as before and all emphasis mine): 
“¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (No one is righteous.  Period.)

 ²¹ But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (Christ and His righteousness for all who receive Him in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.) ²² This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. (We are in the context of faith now.) There is no difference, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (This is a parenthetical thought... All are sinners.  Period.) ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Verse 24 is no longer part of the parenthetical and refers back to verse 22 that all those who believe are righteous and therefore justified in His sight and not all men.)  ²⁵ God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,^[i] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” -NIV

Romans 4 goes on in detail in the example of Abraham, the father of our faith and transitions beautifully into chapter 5:

Romans 4:16 to 5:2

 “¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[c] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^{[d] 19} Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (You have to realize that this faith that was given and worked by the Holy Spirit in Abraham enabled him to carry out the sacrifice of his son, Isaac; to the very enth degree.  Abraham already believed in the resurrection and that if Isaac died, God would raise Isaac from the dead to fulfill the promise of the Savior through Abraham’s seed.) ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

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²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.  ¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” -NIV

So far St. Paul has gone to great lengths to establish that it is Christ’s righteousness that justifies through faith alone.  By faith (worked by the Holy Ghost) we receive His righteousness and are therefore declared justified; forgiven.

Here is Romans 5:18 in context (the context of faith as established in chapters 3, 4 and beginning of 5); commentary again in parenthesis:

Romans 5:12-21

¹² Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. ¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the offense. (This is key.  Not only is the gift opposite of the condemnation; bringing life, but watch how else it differs.) For if by the one man’s offense many died (all die), much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Notice it is to many; or for many but not on all.) ¹⁶ And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. (resulted in; not yet imputed to us but on the One who earned it.  On Christ!) ¹⁷ For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) (This is the key…those who receive…through the One…through faith!) ¹⁸ Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. (This verse is merely summarizing what has gone before.  Verse 19 is the more important verse.) ¹⁹ For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, (all men) so also by one Man’s obedience many (believers, since what has gone before tells you who the ‘many’ are.) will be made righteous. ²⁰ Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. -NKJV (This verse drives it home…’through Jesus Christ’, or in Christ; through faith in Christ.)

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A WELS pastor friend of mine succinctly states the problems associated with the confusing verbiage of many of WELS essays; even the statement of faith as laid out in ‘This We Believe’ as you have stated prior.

“...We ought not speak of people as being already justified before they are born.  The Confessions equate Justification with Regeneration.  Period.  And the Scriptures do the same.  Justification/The forgiveness of sins are Third Article doctrines, not Second Article doctrines.  The confusion is this, that when some people say "God has justified the world," they mean, "Christ died for the sins of the world."  But our sloppy use of the word "justify" has caused all sorts of problems.  The latter is "redemption," not "justification."  Some go so far as to say that God imputes the righteousness of Christ to all people.  This directly contradicts the passage you quoted above that says that "to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited (imputed) as righteousness." (- Romans 4:5 Ibid)

In Summary

We will not and cannot recant nor repent since we are not in error and we will in fact seek a capitulation from you and those you are claiming to represent; that Christ’s death on the cross did not ‘justify all men’, (nor forgive them before they were born) but rather atoned for their sins (Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed) and that sinners receive God’s grace, forgiveness and justification; Christ’s redemptive work in their place (propitiation) through faith alone in Christ worked by the Holy Ghost as it has been since the fall of man. (Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed)  It is God’s will that all men be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-6).  Christ’s righteousness and forgiveness (that He won for all) is objectively for all men.  But it remains on Christ for the world (objectively) and is received through faith alone that is worked by the Holy Spirit.  To believe that all are already forgiven before faith (as Patterson preaches) or even saved (as the Buchholz paper claims); even prior to hearing the Word (Romans 10:17) through which the Holy Ghost works, you are separating the Word from the Holy Spirit.  This is blasphemy.

Justified by Grace for Christ’s sake through faith,

Joe and Lisa Krohn

A Good NNIV Post Followed by a Synod Minder.No! No! Ninevah!

Anonymous said...
I agree with the general sentiments. The translation is the soft-sell version of the Historical Critical method. I ask myself, if the translators were willing to mess with the gender, what other things did they change? Do we believe the Bible was inspired word-for-word, or did God inspire general concepts? An eighth grader confirmand would know better. Meanwhile I was told by an shall-remain-nameless seminary professor, regarding the NIV 2011 that "perhaps my faith isn't ready to understand why gender neutrality is okay, and that "every translation is treason".

If the WELS accepts the NIV 2011 it is siding with many other Sects who do not believe in plenary verbal inspiration. May this not be!!

But really, it shows how deep the systemic rot is in the WELS to show that the Synod (on any level) would even consider that translation. The Southern Baptists are even laughing at us--aghast that the WELS is struggling over the matter. (hanging my head)

I would hope that Confessional WELS pastors and congregations would tell the Synod "we will not use nor purchase any materials containing the NIV 2011, nor will we vouch for the orthodoxy of any church who uses the translation.

Tim Meyers
July 16, 2011 5:39 PM
　 http://stevebauer.ushttp://stevebauer.usHYPERLINK "http://stevebauer.us"Pastor Steve Bauer said...
Tim Meyers wrote:

"But really, it shows how deep the systemic rot is in the WELS to show that the Synod (on any level) would even consider that translation. The Southern Baptists are even laughing at us--aghast that the WELS is struggling over the matter. (hanging my head)"

I'm curious of where your proof is that Southern Baptists are laughing at us. The Baptists I am in contact with who are studying the NIV-11 (and other bibles) are seriously saddened that their own brothers rushed to a decision on this matter without studying it further. And by no means are they laughing at us. I hope you're speaking hyperbolically. Because if you're not, you'll have to produce evidence that a sizable amount of Baptists even know that the WELS exists (Most I've talked to don't). But in addition to that, you'll have to produce evidence that they are indeed laughing at us.

Also, you'll also have to show how considering the NIV-11 as a translation option for our synod proves that there is "systemic rot" in the WELS.

You bring forth serious charges against our church. Unless you bring forth real and substatial proof, I have no choice but to conclude that you are breaking the 8th commandment.

If you really do think that the WELS is in error for considering the NIV-11 as a translation option, then this is not the forum to speak of such things first. Speak to your pastor, congregational president, circuit pastor, in keeping with Matthew 18.

Why does this blog tolerate such flagrant breaking of the 8th commandment unchecked?

--Pastor Steve Bauer
July 17, 2011 11:34 AM 

Some things don't look right from the start. Ya know what I'm sayin'?

Join These Jolly People in Mocking the Means of Grace

But, can anyone get lower than WELS Pastor Scott Oelhafen preaching, I Am So Glad Jesus Rode a Hog - to celebrate the Harley Davidson franchise?
Steve Jobs is a nominal Lutheran. How about an Apple Sunday? That would be suitable for The CORE - they use Apples.

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California:

Re:The youtube of the "mocking of the Means of Grace" .   The choice of Dr. Seuss characters complete with costumes may not be be so far out considering the context of where synods are heading.   Dr. Seuss books may have more to do with the lowered literacy of recent generations  in general when phonics method of teaching reading was abandoned or diluted in favor of "look say" method.   The timing wasn't too far removed from the timing of the KJV having been dispatched to the waste baskets.

Dr. Theodore Geisel, the real name of the author of the Dr. Seuss books, wrote the books in response to a request of someone from a text book company.   The request was that he write a book (books) for early elementary grade reading, using no more than 348 words, limited to 225 words per book.  The Cat in the Hat was the first.  That can be documented on Wikipedia and many other sources with a simple google search. The books were instrumental in supporting the replacing of phonics with "look say" method of teaching reading which contributed mightily to the dumbing down of a couple generations. In later life,  Dr.Geisel is reported to have said he regretted the association of his work with the "look say" method of teaching reading.

So it's not  too much of a stretch that Dr. Seuss characters would be featured  by that pathetic display, when the NNIV is being seriously considered as acceptable.  If it weren't for copyright obstacles, NNIV could be promoted as the  Dr.Seuss Bible for literacy challenged pew occupants.

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This style of writing also appeared to be in Dr. Geisel's nature. During WWII, he was assigned to write training manuals for the US Army. He was re-assigned when the manuals sounded too much like what we would call a "Dr. Suess" book today.

Baazboy
 

When WELS Offers Money Management Courses, Think Prairie du Chien: Millions Spent for a Prison

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Judgment Day Approaches for the LCMS Seminaries":

http://www.wi-doc.com/prairie_du_chien.htm

INSTITUTION INFORMATION
The State of Wisconsin purchased this facility in 1995 to be used as a Juvenile Correctional Institution for non-assaultive male youthful offenders. The main grounds and the majority of the buildings were originally constructed in the mid 1900s. The facility originally served as a Jesuit High School and later as a Lutheran Preparatory High School. Due to the decreases of juvenile offender population in the Division of Juvenile Corrections, the Legislature in the 1997 Senate Bill 113, authorized the Department of Corrections to temporally utilize this facility for the Division of Adult Institutions.

The Importance of Original Preaching

The post below, Faith Comes from the Preached Word of God, should lead all ministers and laity to the same conclusion as Luther's - the preaching of the Word is the most important aspect of the Christian Church.

Each week offers plenty of time to prepare a faithful sermon and write it out. That is the first priority. Second is pastoral visitation and education of the young. Gym workouts are acceptable if the minister gives the Word a workout during the week.

One way to prepare is to ditch the ridiculous Church of Rome three-year lectionary and return to the historic one-year, which is used in The Lutheran Hymnal and Lenker's Sermons of Luther. Then, read this sermon to the family, during the week, as leader of the household. Lenker often has long versions of the sermon and multiple copies. Ideas, illustrations, and Biblical interpretation are wrapped into one inexpensive but priceless package.

Starting perhaps on Thursday or Friday, the sermon should be written out completely. Writing is the most organized form of communication. Our thoughts are a jumble. Conversation is wordy and repetitive. Writing puts all the thoughts in order and develops them. "Writing makes a precise mind." The sermon should be delivered without the manuscript. The minister may need a short outline to stay on track. Walther wrote about having the complete manuscript there, but preaching freely. Many of us are too anxious and will fall into reading from the manuscript rather than simply using it as our blankie.

A Biblical text has its own outline. Each verse is a point. Stop when finished. A well prepared sermon will have an hour's worth of material available in spoken form. Good writing is more like an iceberg. Most of the preparation is concealed. Getting up in the pulpit and winging it does not work but the minister has a lid of ice under him, not an ice mountain. When preaching without preparation, he is likely to sink "beneath the waves with watery groan, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown."

The Book of Concord and Lenski have many good insights to add. Thanks to the Net, a minister can drop Luther quotes, Book of Concord citations, and Lenski into the text. The digital Lenski and Luther will give the exact citation with the copy and paste. Does Groeschel offer that? No.

I may be unusual in this regard, but I like to put a lot of good quotations at the end. The quotations I use are ones that I have collected over the years. All of them have citations, and they are free for anyone to use. I would rather read good material over and over than look for a fresh and exciting heretical statement designed for itching ears.

The printed sermon ought to be posted for everyone to read. Mark 4 (Matthew 13) teaches us to scatter the Word the way the Sower broadcasts the seed. Google Blogger makes it easy to post the sermon. The Bethany Lutheran Worship blog has sermons only and almost nothing else. Look at the map. People all over the world are using it daily. Plagiarists are not going to blog their sermons, because it is too easy to match them up with the original authors - who are never Lutheran.

I do not think that linking the audio is adequate. That will not work for many people. I never bother with someone's audio file. I doubt whether Granny in Wachahootchie Falls is going to use it either. Video files can be useful because the home-bound person is a part of the church service that way. As one man with ALS said, "I feel like I am there with you when I watch the video." Previously we had audio files for him to hear.

Video is fairly easy to manage, inexpensive to start. We are using Ustream right now. Bumping off the ads is going to cost members $4 a month. A large church could do that by paying the group fee, which is $100. There are other approaches, but all it takes is broadband and a $100 camera. One independent congregation uploads the file later. We broadcast live and save the file.  

The Sermon is the Big Picture If the Christian Church is the way in which people receive grace, then the congregation and pastor are obliged to provide this grace as lavishly as possible. People do not come to church to be beat up by the Law and handed more Law as their medicine. That works with cults but it does not advance the Gospel.

The sermon is the primary Means of Grace in the Christian Church. The neo-crypto-papists want to elevate Holy Communion to that position. We provide Holy Communion each week for various reasons, but the preached Word is first. Holy Communion as the visible Word has far more meaning if it follows a real sermon that conveys Christ to the audience.

The congregation has many ways to support or undermine the sermon. I receive nothing but support from the readers and listeners, but my situation is unusual.

Members undermine the sermon by making the pastor the Keeper of the Flower Chart, the Man Responsible for Why the Church is Dirty on Sunday Morning, and the Main Reason Why Aunt Matilda Quit.

I am convinced that a Means of Grace congregation will exemplify what Luther taught about the Scriptures.

Faith Comes from the Preached Word of God

The Universal Objective Justification fanatics have no concept of the Gospel. Their screams of rage prove it, whenever they are challenged. Romans 10 is a powerful refutation of their Enthusiastic fantasies. People without any knowledge of Christ, without any faith in Him, are declared forgiven, absolved, and saved! - even before they are born.

"Faith comes from hearing" is far too truncated to encapsulate what Paul teaches in Romans 10.

KJV Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The Word (rema) is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the Word (rema) of faith, which we preach; One might translate (rema) as utterance.

Understood with Paul's many statements about one, harmonious, God-given doctrine, the term has the sense of being the solemn declaration of God's truth, as revealed by the Holy Spirit.

KJV Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Once again, Paul teaches justification by faith, which is not the same at the atoning death of Christ. One must be carefully trained in the double-back flips of warmed-over Pietism - to start with salvation without faith and descend to the necessity of works. Oh yes, the UOJ fanatics plunk their victims into cell groups and order them to study the eructations of favored dungeon-masters. You cannot transform your life unless you perform your works of atonement in your cell group.

KJV Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

The next verse clearly reveals the salvation story: KJV Romans 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report (akoe)? The report is the proclamation, the message. Luther translated, "Who has believed our preaching?"

This citation connects the most famous Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah to Paul's lesson:

KJV Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report (akoe in the Greek Septuagint)? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4 Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Paul is teaching the importance of preaching the pure Word of God, not the ravings of Groeschel and Stanley, because faith comes from preaching the utterances of God.

KJV Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing (akoe), and hearing (akoe) by the Word of God. Luther translated, "So then faith comes from preaching, and preaching from the Word of God."

LUO Romans 10:17 So kommt der Glaube aus der Predigt, das Predigen aber aus dem Wort Gottes.

Notice the flow of Luther's words - "So comes Faith from Preaching, Preaching however from the Word of God." Although the phrasing is a bit odd, we could translate, "Faith comes from hearing the proclamation, this proclamation from the Word of God."

Luther preserves the original intent better than the English, which keeps going downhill. Here is the Nineveh, Murdoch's New

NNIV - Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. The Mequon Sausage Factory, so named by Jay Webber and the ELS, is hotter than Georgia asphalt about the NNIV. The Murdoch Living Bible is by idiots, for idiots.